


Wake Up, Da'len

by ShadowsOffense



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Matrix (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Prompt Fic, The Fade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3544598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowsOffense/pseuds/ShadowsOffense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If the war ended today, Arlathan is where they would hold the party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wake Up, Da'len

Bright, cheerful, sunny day, you should go outside, play like other boys. Fin knows what his mother will say when he hears her feet on the stairs. He quickly turns off the monitor to make the computer look like it is still shut down and flops onto his bed, throwing an arm over his eyes. 

Her knock is soft and when he does not answer, he feels the subtle shift of her opening the door and the sense that someone is looking at him. Steps approach and a blanket is pulled over his legs. Soon, the door shuts and he hears her feet going back down the stairs. Quietly, Fin sits up and goes back to his computer. His hand reaches for the monitor but the light turns green before he can touch it. Confused, he pauses.

The screen is still dark, but a curser blinks in the upper left corner. _Hello._ The word appears as if someone had typed it in.

_Hello?_ He types back, hairs on the back of his neck rising. Someone has gotten passed his security. Someone very, very good. _Who are you?_

_Names are pretty, but useless. You have questions and have been looking for answers._

Fin licks his lips, plus beating even faster. _Yes._

_Much as I expected. I might have the answers you seek, but are you ready to hear them?_ The person, Fin has his suspensions, does not wait for an answer. _I suppose we will see soon enough. Follow, if it pleases you._

_Follow?_ Fin starts to type back, but before he can hit enter, the screen goes dark. He tries to turn the monitor back on but the computer is off. “What do you mean follow?” he asks aloud.

He jerks and ducks as there is a crash, his window breaking as something solid and round flies into his room. 

“Oh shit,” he hears a voice from outside.

There is a softball lying in the broken glass and he picks it up. Walking over to the window he sees three teenagers taking off down the street. Fin looks back at the orb in his hand. “Follow.”

He slips downstairs, expecting his mother to be there full of questions and worry, but she appears to have left, so he continues out the back door and hurries after the other teenagers. They run out of the neighborhood and he dashes after them across a busy street, cars honking in protest. His lungs burn, unused to running, but he gives chase for another three blocks, slowly loosing ground. They make a sharp right into a park and by the time he reaches the trees Fin has lost them. The park is empty, except for a person, standing by the lake, feeding the ducks. There is no sign that the three he has been chasing were ever here.

Fin looks down at the softball still in his hand, disappointment settling in his chest. He looks at the man feeding the ducks and jogs over.

“Excuse me,” he starts. “But did you see three other kids run by here?”

“They have served their purpose by bringing you here, Solas.” Fin starts at hearing the man say his alias. “But do you even know what it is you seek? You said you had a question. What is it? What is the question?”

“What is the Fade?” Fin asks, breathless from more than his run.

The man smiles thinly. “I am Coryphaeus. Come with me.”

“Coryphaeus?” Fin’s eyes widen. “ _The_ Coryphaeus, who programmed the Blight?”

“That was a long time ago.” Coryphaeus turns around and begins walking back to the road. Fin hurries to fall in step with him.

“Where are we going?” Fin asks.

“ _She_ is waiting.”

“She? You mean... Mythal?”

Coryphaeus does not reply. He stops at the curb and a moment later a car pulls up. Coryphaeus opens the door and climbs inside. After a moment of hesitation, Fin follows him. Momentum shoves him against the back of the seat as the driver floors it without even waiting for Fin to settle. As Fin pushes himself into a more comfortable position, he hears a metallic click and freezes.

Looking up, his eyes first focus on the barrel of the gun, before moving passed it to the woman with uneven blond hair in the passenger seat. “Just a precaution, yeah?” She says, in response to his wide eyes.

Fin glances over at Coryphaeus. 

“It is as she says,” Coryphaeus answers his unspoken question.

“I’m Andruil. The driver is Sandal. He doesn’t talk much,” the blond smiles, even though she doesn’t lower her weapon. Her aim doesn’t even waver as Sandal speeds around a corner.

“Fin Harris,” Fin says. When she doesn’t respond, he adds, “Solas.”

“Enchanted,” the driver, Sandal, says. His voice is both surprisingly high and surprisingly not sarcastic.

“We are here,” Coryphaeus says.

“Already?” Fin asks, but the car slows to a stop. Corypheaus gets out and Fin is quick to follow. He leads Fin into what looks like an abandoned building, Andruil trailing behind them with the gun still pointed at Fin. They go up a crumbling staircase and into a side room where a woman is standing with her back to them in front of a window.

“I was wondering when you would get here,” she says.

“I followed like you told me to,” Fin replies, stung. She laughs as if he had said something funny.

“Not quite what I meant, lad. You have been looking for answers for a long time, but I have been looking for you for even longer.” She turns around and her eyes are an unnatural gold. “Now, you want to know what the Fade is?”

Fin nods.

“The Fade is all around you. It is everything and it is nothing. It is the wool that has been pulled over your eyes. The Fade is a dream that seems real until you wake up, but,” She pauses. “What if you never woke up, how would you know you were dreaming?”

“I wouldn’t, I suppose,” Fin replies.

Mythal smiles. “Clever lad. You have a choice now. Option one is that you can go home, forgot all this and live a normal life.”

“And option two?” Fin asks.

“We tear open the veil and you see what the world really is.”

“What do I need to do?” Fin asks.

“The answer is in your hands,” Mythal says.

Fin blinks and looks down at his hands. He still is holding the softball in a loose grip, but it doesn’t look like a softball anymore, glowing a soft, yellow tinged green. He tries to drop it, but it is stuck to his hand and around him the world seems to twist and melt.

“Now it is time to wake up for you to wake up, Solas. And Solas?” he tries to look at her though his warped vision. As she twists and blurs, Mythal’s eyes seem to glow a bright blue and behind her appears a mirror that seems to reflect into infinity. “I am sorry.”


End file.
